"In all
these things we aremore than
conquerors—through him who loved us!" Romans 8:37

It is
better that we should not sing ofsadness.
There are sad notes enough already in the world's air. We should sing of cheer,
of joy, of hope. This is what Paul did when he said: "We are more than
conquerors through him that loved us!" We do not need to bedefeatedin
our battles, tosinkunder
our loads, to becrushedbeneath
our sorrows. We may bevictorious.
We all have ourstruggles.
Life is not easy for any of us; or if it is—we are not making much of it. A
useful life is never easy. It must be from first to last, in the face of
opposition.

Jacob saw
life visioned as a ladder, its foot resting in the earth, its top reaching up to
heaven, into God's very glory. That meant that man could go up from his
earthliness, his sinfulness, into nobleness and holiness of character, gaining
at last likeness to God and a home with God. But it meant also that theascentnever
could be easy. A ladder bids us to climb, and climbing is always toilsome. It is
slow, too, step by step. It never becomes easy, for heaven is ever above us and
the climbing cannot cease until we enter the pearly gates.

Paul
constantly pictured life as abattle—a
warfare. We aresoldierswith
enemies to fight. The enemies arestrong,
not flesh and blood—but evil angels, spiritual foes, wicked spirits. They are
invisible. They lurk in the darkness. They hide in ambush. Too often they
nest in our own hearts! They take forms of good angels, to deceive us. The
battle is great—and it never ends until we overcome the last enemy and pass
within the gates of blessedness.

Every
life has itscares, itsduties,
itsresponsibilities. There
aresicknessesandsorrowsandpains
andlosses—and a thousand
things, which make it hard to live victoriously. It is possible for us, if we
are Christians, to overcome in all these struggles and trials.

"In all
these things we are more than conquerors." To bemorethan
conquerors is to betriumphant
conquerors, not merely getting through the battle or the trouble—but coming out
of it with rejoicing, with song and gladness. Some peoplebeartrial
and are not overcome by it—but bear it without any glad sense of victory. Othersconquertheir
sorrow, and all through it you hear as it were, the notes of triumph. Paul
himself was this sort of conqueror. His life was one unbroken series of
struggles. It never becameeasyfor
him to livenobly. He gives us
glimpses sometimes of his experiences. He was beaten with rods. He was stoned.
He was shipwrecked. He was in perils of robbers, in perils in the wilderness, in
the sea, among false brethren, in watchings, in fastings, in cold and nakedness.
He spent years in prison. Then he hadenemies
in his own heart—read the seventh of Romans to find what it cost him to live
right. But in all these things he was "more than conqueror."

Someone
compares Paul's life to one who goes along the street in a dark stormy night,
singing sweet songs; or to a whole band of music moving through the rain and
darkness, playing marches of victory. That is the way we should all try to live
as Christians, not merelyenduringour
trials and coming through our struggles—but doing soenthusiastically—"more
than conquerors." Not onlymaywe
be conquerors—but if we are Christians wemustbe
conquerors. We dare not yield. We believe that we should be conquerors in
temptation, that we should not sin. We know that the evil in us, and the evil
around us—should not be allowed to overcome us. We know that appetites and base
passions and bad tempers should not be permitted to rule us. But this is not the
only phase of life, in which we meet resistance and opposition, and must be
conquerors, if we would live nobly.

This is
true in physical life.Healthis
simply victory over disease and weakness. It is true inmental
life. It is never easy to have a trained mind. It can be gotten only through
long and patient study and severe discipline. It is so in all experiences in
life. We should never yield to discouragement or depression, for there is no
reason that we should. In the description of the godly man, in the first Psalm,
where he is compared to a tree planted by streams of water, we read: "And
whatever he does shall prosper." There is norealfailure
possible in a true Christian life. There may beseemingfailure;
indeed oft-times there is. Christ's life failed, as itappearedto
men. Paul's life failed. Henry Martyn's life failed. But you know what glorious
successes all these lives were in the end.

If we are
truly Christians, in Jesus Christ, it is impossible for us to fail. Hence in all
adversity, in all loss, in all feebleness of health, in all persecution,
injustice, wrong—we have but to remain true to Christ, and we cannot fail.
"Whatever he does shall prosper." Hence we should never yield to
discouragement. We should be more than conquerors.

The same
is true insorrow. Sorrow
comes into every life. We cannot shut it out. But we can be conquerors in it.
When the snows melt away in the springtime, I have often seen under them sweet
flowers in bloom. The very drifts were like warm blankets to keep them safe. So
it is in sorrow. Under thecold
snows of sorrow—the flowers of the Christian graces grow unhurt. We can
overcome in sorrow; we ought to overcome. This does not mean that we should not
shed tears in our sorrows. The love of Christ does nothardenthe
heart—it really makes it more sensitive. The grace of Christ does not save us
fromsufferingin
bereavement. Yet we are to be conquerors. Our sorrow must notcrushus.
We must go through it victoriously, with sweet submission, and joyous
confidence.

In the
same way must we meet worldly losses and adversities, the failures in our human
plans and hopes, the fading of our human joys. "More than conquerors" is the
motto which is written upon our crown!

But do
not forget the closing words of Paul's statement: "In all these things we are
more than conquerors—through him who loved us!"The
text would not be true if these last five words were left off. We cannot leave
Christ out of life—and in anything be true overcomers. The Roman Emperor saw the
symbol of the cross blazing in the sky and over it the legend: "By this shall
you conquer!" Before every young soldier of the cross, as he goes out to begin
life's battles, shines the same symbol, with the same legend. "By this shall you
conquer!" "We are more than conquerors—through him who loved us." It is only
through Christ, that any of us can overcome sin or sorrow or trial.

Some of
you may be asking, with deep eagerness—in what way Christ helps us in our
battles and struggles. How can we overcome through him? One part of the answer
is, that he has overcome all things himself. He came in the flesh for us. He was
the captain of our salvation. He entered into life for us. He met everyenemythat
we have ever met. And he was more than conqueror in every struggle. He wastemptedin
all points like as we are—yet without sin. That is, he conquered all sin.

Then he
metpoverty, and was
victorious in that, living sweetly, patiently, trustingly, in it, without
discontent, without envy, without repinings. He worked as a carpenter—but he
never chafed at the hardness of the work or the smallness of the pay. Later, he
had nowhere to lay his head, even the foxes and the birds being better homed
than he—but he never complained. When the people scattered off to their homes in
the gathering shadows, leaving him alone, he quietly climbed the mountain and
spent the night under the stars in peace. Thus he was more than conqueror in
poverty.

So he was
victorious in all thewrongshe
had to endure. From enemies and from friends, he suffered wrongs. His enemies
pursued him with hate and persecution, and at last nailed him on the cross. His
own chosen friends did many things to pain and trouble him—one of them at lastbetrayinghim
for money, anotherdenyinghim
in his darkest hour. Enmity and hate and wrongs cannot hurt us—unless they rouse
us to resentment, to anger, to bitter feelings, to acts of revenge. But Jesus
was victorious in all his endurance of injury. His love never once failed in any
of its sore testings.

He was
also conqueror in his struggle with death—the last enemy. It did not seem so at
first. Death overcame him on the cross, and bore him captive into its dark
prison. But it could not hold him. He burst the bars of death and triumphed over
the grave. He came forth a glorious conqueror, out forever from death's power,
with all the radiancy of life. Thus Christ isuniversalconqueror.
There is no enemyweshall
ever have to meet—thathehas
not met and vanquished. If we are in his army—he will lead us also to victory.
We cannot overcome ourselves—but he will fight the battles for us. We are more
than conquerors, but only through him who loved us.

But
again—he does not merely fight our battles for us; he helps us to become
victorious. "We are more than conquerors,throughhim."
We must not get the impression that Christ merely wraps us up in the folds of
his mighty love, and carries us over the hard places in life. When we are in the
presence of temptation, he does not with his divine hand smite down the
adversary. We mustfight the
battle—and he willstrengthenus.
There is a verse which says, "The Lord will bruise Satan shortly," but that is
not all of it. "The Lord will bruise Satan—under your feet shortly." You must
tread down the enemy beneath your feet—but the Lord will bruise him. We must
become the conquerors, throughhim.
He wants to make us strong and therefore he does not do all things for us, and
fight all our battles. He sends us out to meet the enemies, the trials, the
oppositions—and then he goes with us to help us. He does not take the burdens
off us—but hesustainsus
in bearing them.

What then
is our part? It is implicit, unquestioning obedience. Do you remember those
cases in the gospels when people were healed, as they obeyed? The man with the
withered arm was bidden to stretch it out—an impossible thing, in a human sense;
but as he sought to obey—he was enabled to do it. Health came into his shriveled
arm. The ten lepers were bidden to go away and show themselves to the priest.
"And as they went—they were cleansed." Obedience made them overcomers.

So it is
always in the receiving of divine help. We stand in the presence of some
opposition, some hindrance, some trial. We say we cannot go through it. But we
hear the voice of God commanding, "Go—and lo, I am with you always!" If we
quietly and believingly go forward—the difficulties will melt before us; theseawill
open and make a path for our feet; themountainwill
remove and be cast into the sea; theenemywill
flee as we advance. Christ never gives a duty—but he will give also the
strengthwe require to obey.

There is
a blessed secret in this very simple teaching.If
we do God's will—we are invincible, and shall always be more than conquerors.You
stand face to face with a sorrow or a discouragement or some adversity. The
problem now, is toovercomein
this experience—not to getridof
the experience—but to meet it and pass through it victoriously, so that it shall
not hurt you—but that you shall get blessing out of it. Now, how can you do
this? Never byresistingandrebelling.
You cannot by doing this, repel the trial or evade it. You might as well try to
fight a cyclone, and by resisting it, turn it back. Your resisting can only hurt
and bruise your own life! But if you sweetly and quietly yield to the trial or
the sorrow and bow before it—it will pass over you and you will rise again
unhurt.

Such
meeting of trial changes thecursein
the bitter cup—toblessing. He
who overcomes in temptation, gets new strength out of his conquest. He who is
patient and submissive in the sick room, gets a blessing out of the pain. He who
overcomes in adversity and keeps faith and love bright, has changed its loss
into gain. So it is in all things. To be conqueror in the battles and struggles
of life—is to climb ever upward toward glory and blessedness.

God so
shapes all our life's events and experiences, that in everyone of them there is
a blessing for us. We miss it if we resist and rebel, and thus fail of
victoriousness. But if we let God's will be done in us, some good will come out
of every cup he puts into our hand. So we shall go on, conquering and to
conquer, overcoming in all life's sorrows and getting blessing out of them. So
we shall go on, victorious over sins and rising into sainthood out of them, as
lilies spring up out of black bogs; putting the old nature under our feet more
and more as the new nature grows in us into strength and beauty. So we shall go
on, triumphing over all the ills of life, over all adversities, until at last,
rising out of death, we shall stand before God, without spot or blemish, wearing
the image of Christ!